Submarines, in particular for military application, are usually supplied underwater with electrical energy from batteries. Energy converters for producing the electrical energy from an energy source, for example hydrogen and from an oxidant, for example oxygen, are also increasingly used. Fuel cells are particularly suitable for this, in which the energy source is catalytically oxidized amid the production of electrical energy and heat. An oxygen-containing gas such as air for example, but also preferably pure oxygen which is stored cryogenically and in liquid form, are typically used as oxidants with these systems.
It is known how to store liquid oxygen (LOX) on land in order to ensure an adequate safety. The rules which apply on land however are not sufficient for the safe storage of liquid and/or gaseous oxygen in a submarine, in particular for a military application. The storage of liquid oxygen therefore has been previously effected in a liquid gas pressure container arranged outside the pressure hull, which however is rather unfavorable intrinsic of the system, since the incorporation of one or more pressure containers outside the actual pressure hull of the submarine is comparatively expensive with regard to technology, since it is not possible to provide a comparatively large container alone for fluidic reasons, as well as for reasons of weight distribution, and thus several small containers need to be attached on the outside on the pressure hull of the submarine vessel, and these need to be cased in a streamlined manner. Only in this manner may one ensure that no oxygen may reach the inside of the pressure hull of the submarine in the case of any leakage of the pressure container.